Obama loses Wall Street?

posted at 9:15 am on February 3, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

No surprise to you and me, but apparently this comes as quite a shock to the Huffington Post. Paul Blumenthal reports that Democrats sputter that Wall Street never had it so good, but perhaps the investors in the world of finance might know a bad stock when they see it. Obama has been outraised in the financial sector by Mitt Romney at a ratio of almost 12:1 in the fourth quarter of 2011 — and Romney hasn’t even won the nomination yet:

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Romney raised $1.49 million from employees of those 68 companies while the president’s reelection campaign raised just $127,000 — an 11.7-to-1 ratio. It was the most lucrative quarter for Romney yet.

“Clearly it was a great quarter for Romney, in terms of fundraising from Wall Street and from securities and banking firms, in particular the biggest one,” said Sheila Krumholz, CRP’s executive director. “It is not surprising that he was able to do that. It is just surprising how rapid the shift has been towards him and away from Obama.”

The abandonment of the president by the financial sector has, indeed, been remarkable in scope and speed. Some of the very companies whose employees cut checks for Obama in 2008 now seem fully devoted to funding his competitor in 2012.

Goldman Sachs employees, who donated more than $1 million to Obama’s first run for the White House, gave Romney more than $106,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Obama received just over $12,000 during that same period.

Bank of America employees, who donated more than $388,000 to Obama in 2008, gave Romney more than $77,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Obama received just under $16,000 during that same period.

CitiGroup employees, who donated about $730,000 to Obama in 2008, gave Romney more than $196,000 during the fourth quarter of 2011. Obama received $3,842 during the same period.

Blumenthal fumes that Obama has been their best friend, in part because he hasn’t gotten around to prosecuting them yet:

No one has thrived under the Obama administration except lobbyists. Investors have to sit on capital rather than put it to work because of the inability to price out risk on anything more than a single-year basis, thanks to the gimmicky economic policies of Obamanomics. Regulations like ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, with the unlimited rule-making ability of bureaucrats both bills contained, means no one knows where to put their money or how much a job will cost in three years.

It’s no coincidence that the fundraising problem started in the fourth quarter. Just before the start of that quarter, Obama launched his class-warfare campaign in a joint-session speech, inspiring the Occupy movement that terrorized businesses in Oakland but mostly petered out into a national joke as winter approached. Obama all but declared war on the investment community, and they have decided that backing an old-school New Leftist is a very bad investment.

Or maybe it doesn’t even take that much analysis to understand why the financial industry considers Obama a bad risk. After all, the CBO explains it pretty well in their latest economic projections, emphases mine:

In part because of the dampening effect of the higher tax rates and curbs on spending scheduled to occur this year and next, CBO expects that the economy will continue to recover slowly, with real GDP growing by 2.0 percent this year and 1.1 percent next year (as measured by the change from the fourth quarter of the previous calendar year). CBO expects economic activity to quicken after 2013 but to remain below the economy’s potential until 2018.

In CBO’s forecast, the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent both this year and next, a consequence of continued weakness in demand for goods and services. As economic growth picks up after 2013, the unemployment rate will gradually decline to around 7 percent by the end of 2015, before dropping to near 5½ percent by the end of 2017.

Put yourself in the shoes of the investors. If you had bet big on a firm three years ago and ended up with this kind of performance, you’d be looking for a better investment now, too.

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Blowback

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I would put it another way, I would look for another patsy.
They know Obama’s only chance will be to continue the 1% theme, and so they need another easy mark, and Romney is about as easy as it gets.
Jackal’s don’t hunt, they pick over the bones of the weak…and Romney is even weaker than Obama…and he has more “meat”.

I would put it another way, I would look for another patsy.
They know Obama’s only chance will be to continue the 1% theme, and so they need another easy mark, and Romney is about as easy as it gets.
Jackal’s don’t hunt, they pick over the bones of the weak…and Romney is even weaker than Obama…and he has more “meat”.

right2bright on February 3, 2012 at 9:20 AM

Why are you even trying to spin info about Obama doing poorly into an anti-Romney bit?

The shift in funding will be used as a sledge hammer on Romney along with the non-stop battering of the TPM and wealthy conservatives….No mention will be made of the even richer Democrats who are giving but not in the same amounts they had.

I am sooooooo thrilled that this is happening to barack. He is not the omnipotent, be-all, end-all that he thinks he is. He is only a legend in his own mind.

DuctTapeMyBrain on February 3, 2012 at 9:19 AM

You should be worried, not happy. The same people who brought us TARP, MF Global, and the Obama administration are now pouring money into the Mitt Romney campaign. Corzine was Goldman Sachs’ CEO before he entered politics last decade.

Facistastic! We have a financial oligarchy that doesn’t want to give up it’s power stranglehold on our government so they have shifted from one pol to another. Either way we lose.
Meet the new boss same as the old boss.

You should be worried, not happy. The same people who brought us TARP, MF Global, and the Obama administration are now pouring money into the Mitt Romney campaign. Corzine was Goldman Sachs’ CEO before he entered politics last decade.

Romney wasn’t the head of an equity firm, he knows nothing about the financial industry, he’s not an industry insider or anything like that/ Romney’s not running on his private sector record including Bain Capital tenure to get elected/

For the whole campaign, Goldman Sachs employees and their families have been the largest source of campaign cash for Romney, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks political money. They have given him almost half a million dollars; four years ago, they gave $1 million to President Barack Obama, according to the center and FEC filings.

This SHOULD be setting off alarm bells here, not cheers. I would be equally disturbed if these guys were backing Gingrich or Santorum.

But it’s worth noting that President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the one which was supposed to keep unemployment down to 8%, has long run its course, and his second proposed jobs plan was killed in Congress . . . and now the economy is starting to create new jobs. Political reality being what it is, the President will get the credit for new job creation, but the economic reality is that job creation has begun since his meddlesome policies ended. As President Obama and the Democrats campaign against the “do nothing” Republicans, the Republicans actually preventing more government interference in the economy seems to be just what the economy needs.

Yes. I shudder to think of the favors Romney owes wall street and who knows who else after campaigning for 6 years or so and I have no doubt that Wall Strret is hedging their bets.

But I would like to add the possibility that maybe some of these VIPs are actually patriots of a sort and see the destruction Obama and his minions have wrought and will go into hyperdrive if they have another 4 years. They surely realize that to continue down this road will decimate the very system that allowed them the success they enjoy now. Then factor in obama, stern, trumpka et al’s desire to unionize almost every sector of this country and the effect that would have on the economy and perhaps that is what is driving this. Just my opinion.

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.

Mitt Romney: I have to take money from the crony capitalist so I can get elected and end crony capitalism.

George W Bush I had to destroy the free market to save the free market. The man who started our descent with the passing of TARP.

Most of these Wall Streeters backed Obama in 2008 because of white guilt, and because he was the cool guy running against the old geezer and that twit from Alaska. It wasn’t because he promised them anything in terms of policy.

They are running away from him now because reality has hit them in the face. Citigroup just closed its proprietary trading desk because of the Volcker Rule. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, one of the biggest stories was the head of the EU economic commission issuing a blistering rebuke of this rule, and the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and the head of the Bank of Canada doing likewise. It’s created a worldwide firestorm. Even the U.S. regulators couldn’t defend it in a recent hearing in the House.

Even Barney Frank is backpedalling from this insane rule, admitting in the hearing that this was sold to Obama by Paul Volcker and was never part of his bill but got stuck in to the conference bill at Obama’s urging. This one is all on Obama.

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.

Mitt Romney: I have to take money from the crony capitalist so I can get elected and end crony capitalism.

George W Bush I had to destroy the free market to save the free market. The man who started our descent with the passing of TARP.

Dr Evil on February 3, 2012 at 9:49 AM

Obama’s had three years to stop these guys. Instead, his massive overregulation of the banking bsuiness has only caused medium-sized banks to give up and sell out to the big banks, so they have gotten bigger and more powerful. Almost like it was his plan or something.

Obama’s policies are killing small business, killing small banks, choking capital and sending it fleeing overseas.

Most of these Wall Streeters backed Obama in 2008 because of white guilt, and because he was the cool guy running against the old geezer and that twit from Alaska. It wasn’t because he promised them anything in terms of policy.rockmom on February 3, 2012 at 9:52 AM

You are saying Obama and his administration hasn’t been involved in pay for play or crony capitalism? That top Obama bundlers like Jon Corzine, the Solyndra scandal, lightsquared etc…it’s just a happy coincidence, that they got government loans underwritten by American tax payers? GE’s CEO Jeffery Immelt is Obama’s job czar, how much in taxes did GE pay last year? Jamie Dimon Obama BFF and adviser had a company involved in lightsquared but I am sure it’s all just a big coicidence and it doesn’t mean anything that JP Morgan Chase is the number 2 donor to Mitt Romney. Jamie Dimon won’t expect any special considerations if Mitt wins the Presidency/ Has Warren Buffet profited from the cancellation of Keystone pipeline? Has George Soros profited by oil drilling in Brazil? I read somewhere that George Soros has tripled his portfolio during the Obama administration.

The shift in funding will be used as a sledge hammer on Romney along with the non-stop battering of the TPM and wealthy conservatives….No mention will be made of the even richer Democrats who are giving but not in the same amounts they had.

CoffeeLover on February 3, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Republicans have won the class war in previous elections. Quit thinking Americans are stupid. Only hardcore liberals buy into the class war.

Obama’s had three years to stop these guys. Instead, his massive overregulation of the banking bsuiness has only caused medium-sized banks to give up and sell out to the big banks, so they have gotten bigger and more powerful. Almost like it was his plan or something.

Obama’s policies are killing small business, killing small banks, choking capital and sending it fleeing overseas.

rockmom on February 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM

Obama’s not hurting anyone that’s donated to his campaign. Obama is playing favorites “pay for play”.

Mitt Rommey has even addressed crony capitalism in his stump speeches he has stated I know the American people want this practice stopped….he goes on to say he’s got take money from these people in order to win the Presidency to stop the practice.

This isn’t a secret, his speech on this issue has been aired on cable news over and over again. His problem is there is already a trust deficit in this country concerning our government and their collusion with the financial industry.

The shift in funding will be used as a sledge hammer on Romney along with the non-stop battering of the TPM and wealthy conservatives….No mention will be made of the even richer Democrats who are giving but not in the same amounts they had.

CoffeeLover on February 3, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Republicans have won the class war in previous elections. Quit thinking Americans are stupid. Only hardcore liberals buy into the class war.

rubberneck on February 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM

That was before TARP and the TEA party. You are forgetting that Independents decide elections not republicans and not democrats.

There are plenty of fiscal conservatives like me, that want Wall Street out of our government.

You are saying Obama and his administration hasn’t been involved in pay for play or crony capitalism? That top Obama bundlers like Jon Corzine, the Solyndra scandal, lightsquared etc…it’s just a happy coincidence, that they got government loans underwritten by American tax payers? GE’s CEO Jeffery Immelt is Obama’s job czar, how much in taxes did GE pay last year? Jamie Dimon Obama BFF and adviser had a company involved in lightsquared but I am sure it’s all just a big coicidence and it doesn’t mean anything that JP Morgan Chase is the number 2 donor to Mitt Romney. Jamie Dimon won’t expect any special considerations if Mitt wins the Presidency/ Has Warren Buffet profited from the cancellation of Keystone pipeline? Has George Soros profited by oil drilling in Brazil? I read somewhere that George Soros has tripled his portfolio during the Obama administration.

Dr Evil on February 3, 2012 at 10:03 AM

Don’t know how you got there from my post. All I’m saying is that Wall Streeters are cultural liberals, and that’s why they backed Obama in 2008. McCain and especially Palin turned them off in droves. Few if any of them expected much in return from Obama in terms of policy, they just assumed that things would go on for them as they always have.

Now they are actaully voting with their pocketbooks. They have met the enemy and he is the President. They are comfortable with Romney culturally, and I’m sure he has told them that he will roll back some of the worst of the Dodd-Frank nonsense. The House GOP is ready to do a massive rewrite of the bill and he’ll sign it, Obama won’t. This bill is a total disaster and it does matter to everyone because it is going to screw up the allocation of capital so badly in the years to come. It’s just really, really bad policy.

Obama’s not hurting anyone that’s donated to his campaign. Obama is playing favorites “pay for play”.

Mitt Rommey has even addressed crony capitalism in his stump speeches he has stated I know the American people want this practice stopped….he goes on to say he’s got take money from these people in order to win the Presidency to stop the practice.

This isn’t a secret, his speech on this issue has been aired on cable news over and over again. His problem is there is already a trust deficit in this country concerning our government and their collusion with the financial industry.

Dr Evil on February 3, 2012 at 10:06 AM

Obama is killing the big banks who donated to his campaign. Why do you think Jamie Dimon nas turned from one of his biggest cheerleaders to one of his bigget critics?

Now they are actaully voting with their pocketbooks. They have met the enemy and he is the President. They are comfortable with Romney culturally, and I’m sure he has told them that he will roll back some of the worst of the Dodd-Frank nonsense. The House GOP is ready to do a massive rewrite of the bill and he’ll sign it, Obama won’t. This bill is a total disaster and it does matter to everyone because it is going to screw up the allocation of capital so badly in the years to come. It’s just really, really bad policy.

rockmom on February 3, 2012 at 10:09 AM

I’m not arguing that Dodd Frank isn’t bad. The two quasi private sector companies that need reform are Fannie and Freedie. Either they get reformed or sold off. The cause of the financial crisis of September 2008 still hasn’t been addressed by Politicians. The American people want the government to back off the private sector. Unfortunately the American people don’t have lobbiest with lots of money lobbying their congressmen. The financial industry does.

Taxpayers Still Footing TARP Bailout Bill
That brings AIG’s outstanding balance from the 2008 bailout down to roughly $68 billion. That’s out of the $182 billion ploughed into the company at the height of the financial crisis.

This stat is more important than most polls. Huffpo thought it was remarkable, and apparently some Dems just don’t get it. After all, Obama did steer some serious gubmint money their way, and Eric Holder is too busy trying to avoid impeachment persecuting whitey and trying to avoid impeachment to pursue white collar crime.

But the Wall Street guys aren’t so stupid, after all. They see the taxes and regulations and understand these policies are suppressing economic recovery. Wall Street needs a growing economy. They hear the tenor of the rhetoric. They know exactly what will happen to them if Obama is unconstrained by any need to protect re-election support.

Mitt, on the other hand, is one of them. It ain’t a hard choice, or a surprise, except to Democrats and Huffpoopers.

This just allows him to paint Romney as a Wall Street schill. He doesn’t need Wall Street’s money as long as thousands of small donations flow in from Donald Duck, Adolph Hitler, and Fruto Boy Crispila.

Fannie and Freddie do need to go, but right now there would be only a couple of places you could get a mortgage without them. (I happen to work for one of the few banks that is making home loans and holding them, but our credit standards are extremely high.) It’s a tough nut to crack. But I do fault the Administration heavily for not even making a decent proposal to fix them. IMO, they just put this one in the “too hard” file.

We need a massive overhaul of our housing finance system. We didn’t really need a massive overhaul of banking regulation, we needed some regulation of nonbanks and of asset-backed securities. Dodd-Frank did that, but then added some seriously bad and unneeded restrictions on banks.

Don’t know how you got there from my post. All I’m saying is that Wall Streeters are cultural liberals, and that’s why they backed Obama in 2008. McCain and especially Palin turned them off in droves. Few if any of them expected much in return from Obama in terms of policy, they just assumed that things would go on for them as they always have.

Now they are actaully voting with their pocketbooks. They have met the enemy and he is the President.

rockmom on February 3, 2012 at 10:09 AM

rockmom speaks the truth.

Most Wall Streeters have been raised as liberals and were brainwashed at their leftist universities. Most Wall Streeters specialize only in one area of finance and aren’t smart enough to understand good macro-economic policies.

However, they most certainly know that Obama has been a disaster for the economy which is bad for their pocketbooks.

Obama is killing the big banks who donated to his campaign. Why do you think Jamie Dimon nas turned from one of his biggest cheerleaders to one of his bigget critics?

rockmom on February 3, 2012 at 10:14 AM

We have a financial oligarchy, and it doesn’t want to give up it’s hold on the government. Jamie Dimon is counting on Mitt Romney to keep the status quo in regard to the financial industry influence on our government. Obama isn’t against banks, he’s simply using them to get reelected, his class warfare campaign. Obama has 3 major supporters Fiance, Labor, and Lawyers. In order to get reelected he’s decided to attack the Fiance sector, it’s a cynical tact to use, but look at who votes for Obama. Those folks aren’t Rhodes Scholars, they pretty much believe whatever they are told without question. They make up the half of the country that doesn’t pay taxes so what do they care if wealthy people get taxed more?

As far as the financial industry being liberal, that doesn’t explain them donating to George W Bush in high numbers. It’s not about political ideology, it’s about buying political influence in D.C.

Why wouldn’t Mitt Romney keep the status quo in regard to the finance industry? That’s the definition of an establishment republican.

Can we please drop the “industry/Washington/political” insider crap. Everyone is an insider somewhere, and I’m fairly sure I can find some “bad behavior” to vilify about any group of people. If you don’t have a better argument – and you know who you are – just be quiet, stop typing . . . or try facts for a change.

And while I’m on a rant, is there any poll more worthless than the “Congressional Approval” poll especially when juxtaposed against the “President Approval” poll. If you ask me about Congressional approval, I think of the idiots I don’t like, not the ones I do. If you ask about the President, well that’s just one person. If you want something meaningful, ask someone about the the approval of their Congressional Representative and Senators because based on the number that get re-elected, the generic “Congressional Approval” polls mean absolutely nothing.

Oh! And “compromise” doesn’t mean I get what I want and you get nothing. That’s capitulation.

Can we please drop the “industry/Washington/political” insider crap. Everyone is an insider somewhere, and I’m fairly sure I can find some “bad behavior” to vilify about any group of people. If you don’t have a better argument – and you know who you are – just be quiet, stop typing . . . or try facts for a change. EdmundBurke247 on February 3, 2012 at 10:29 AM

Sure we should just ignore all the reporting crony capitalism. Including coming from Mitt Romney’s mouth. Nothing to see here move along/

Romney supporters Shut Up Sit Down, and I thought that was just Obot’s behavior LOL!

Are you under some strange impression that Fannie and Freddie are part of Wall Street?

blink on February 3, 2012 at 10:36 AM

Fannie and Freddie are quasi private companies hybrids, they are not strictly a public sector organization (government). It was Fannie and Freddie that backed all those bad mortgages that the BANKS bundled that led to the Financial Crisis and the passage of TARP Toxic Asset Relief Program. I am sure that doesn’t mean there was any collusion between the government and the financial industry/

Q: List three or more specific programs that will put American people back to work?
ROMNEY: Let’s go back and talk about, first, what you do to get the economy going. We’ve spoken about our tax code that’s out of alignment with other nations. We’ve spoken about the fact that regulation is overwhelming us, that we need to become energy-secure. We have to open up markets, and we have to crack down on China when they cheat. But I’d like to talk about something else that President Obama has been doing. He’s been practicing crony capitalism. And if you want to get America going again, you’ve got to stop the spread of crony capitalism. He gives General Motors to the UAW. He takes $500 million and sticks it into Solyndra. He stacks the labor stooges on the NLRB, so they can say no to Boeing and take care of their friends in the labor movement. This president is biggest impediment to job growth in this country, and we have to replace Barack Obama to get America working again.
Source: South Carolina 2012 GOP debate hosted by CNN’s John King , Jan 19, 2012.

The same people who have donated to Obama in the past, and have benefited for instance Jamie Dimon head of JPMorgan Chase is now the 2nd largest Romney donor.

Was JPMorgan Chase involved in Lightsquared…why yes they were.
About Open Range
Headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, Open Range Communications is a unique public and private partnership. The company was approved in 2009 for a loan by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Program (RDUP) to deliver High Speed Wireless Internet to more than 500 communities across 17 states. This Broadband Access Loan of $267 million loan (the largest in USDA history) was made possible through the positive and combined efforts of the USDA’s RUS and FCC. Open Range received additional private equity funding on January 9, 2009 through an investment of $100 million from One Equity Partners (OEP), the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The OEP investment satisfied the RDUP’s loan terms, making the funds available to Open Range.

ROMNEY COURTS JAMIE DIMON : Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney met privately with Wall Street titan Jamie Dimon earlier this week, Bloomberg reports. Dimon is the chief executive officer of the world’s largest public company, JPMorgan Chase, and is a prolific political donor, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Q: List three or more specific programs that will put American people back to work?
ROMNEY: Let’s go back and talk about, first, what you do to get the economy going. We’ve spoken about our tax code that’s out of alignment with other nations. We’ve spoken about the fact that regulation is overwhelming us, that we need to become energy-secure. We have to open up markets, and we have to crack down on China when they cheat. But I’d like to talk about something else that President Obama has been doing. He’s been practicing crony capitalism. And if you want to get America going again, you’ve got to stop the spread of crony capitalism. He gives General Motors to the UAW. He takes $500 million and sticks it into Solyndra. He stacks the labor stooges on the NLRB, so they can say no to Boeing and take care of their friends in the labor movement. This president is biggest impediment to job growth in this country, and we have to replace Barack Obama to get America working again.
Source: South Carolina 2012 GOP debate hosted by CNN’s John King , Jan 19, 2012.

The same people who have donated to Obama in the past, and have benefited, for instance Jamie Dimon head of JPMorgan Chase is now the 2nd largest Romney donor.

Was JPMorgan Chase involved in Lightsquared…why yes they were.

FierceTelecom
About Open Range
Headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, Open Range Communications is a unique public and private partnership. The company was approved in 2009 for a loan by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Utilities Program (RDUP) to deliver High Speed Wireless Internet to more than 500 communities across 17 states. This Broadband Access Loan of $267 million loan (the largest in USDA history) was made possible through the positive and combined efforts of the USDA’s RUS and FCC. Open Range received additional private equity funding on January 9, 2009 through an investment of $100 million from One Equity Partners (OEP), the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The OEP investment satisfied the RDUP’s loan terms, making the funds available to Open Range.

ROMNEY COURTS JAMIE DIMON : Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney met privately with Wall Street titan Jamie Dimon earlier this week, Bloomberg reports. Dimon is the chief executive officer of the world’s largest public company, JPMorgan Chase, and is a prolific political donor, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Dr Evil, you still haven’t explained how finance people have a hold on the government.

Your rants are gibberish. It’s silly for you to claim that Romney is practicing crony capitalism just because he met with Jamie Dimon whose $100 BILLION (Billion with a “B”) bank did a measly $100 million deal with LightSquared.

Trust me Obama says – don’t listen to what I say. I have to fool and lie to my constituents for their votes. I am with you. How can those “fat cats” on Wall Street trust what this leach is going to do next ? Unless they continue to feed the beast with cash that is.

. . . a money class fleeces the banking system, while the very trunk of the national tree is permitted to rot and crash. . . .
—Christopher Hitchens.
The conventional wisdom among the elite is still that the current slump “cannot be as bad as the Great Depression.”This view is wrong. What we face now could, in fact, be worse than the Great Depression—because the world is now so much more interconnected and because the banking sector is now so big. We face a synchronized downturn in almost all countries, a weakening of confidence among individuals and firms, and major problems for government finances. If our leadership wakes up to the potential consequences, we may yet see dramatic action on the banking system and a breaking of the old elite. Let us hope it is not then too late.